China taking ‘self-isolating’ steps in South China Sea: Pentagon

“I’m not one of those people who believes conflict between the United States and China is inevitable, it’s certainly not desirable, I don’t think it’s likely,” Carter said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We don’t seek to ask people to take sides. We do know that people are coming to us increasingly. Why is that? It is because China is taking some steps that I fear are self-isolating, driving towards a result that none of us wants,” he said, in reference to Chinese measures in the South China Sea.